Steel Cut Oatmeal Cookies
These tasty chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are made with steel cut oats for a uniquely chewy texture. Give these delicious cookies a try!
I love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies but sometimes I only have steel cut oats in my pantry. I started wondering if I could make oatmeal cookies with steel cut oats and it turns out, you can! They’re quite delicious but there are a few tricks to these cookies. I also love that it’s easy to add a little nutritional boost to a tasty dessert. I wouldn’t necessarily say these cookies are healthy, but they’re great for a treat!
What Are Steel Cut Oats?
The oats you get at the store start as oat kernels that have their tough outer shell removed. From there, oats are split into categories based on how much they’ve been processed. Steel cut oats are the least processed version of oats. They have a firm, hearty texture and they take the longest to cook. These oats are also called pinhead oats, coarse oatmeal, or Irish oatmeal.
Rolled oats, also known as old-fashioned oats, have been steamed or flattened ahead of time. This allows them to cook faster compared to steel cut oats. Quick oats or instant oats are rolled oats that have been processed even further so they’ll cook more quickly. Steel cut oats, on the other hand, are neither steamed nor flattened ahead of time. The advantage of using steel cut oats is that they retain the most nutritional value!
Where to Find Steel Cut Oats
Steel cut oats are usually sold near the rolled oats at the grocery store. Keep in mind that these oats can go by different names like Irish oatmeal, Irish oats, or pinhead oats. If you can’t find steel cut oats at your grocery store, you can get them on Amazon.
How to Use Steel Cut Oats in Cookies
To add steel-cut oats to our cookies, it’s important to cook them to help soften the oats. I cooked them in the microwave so they’re ready in less than 10 minutes. If you don’t cook the oats before adding them to the cookies, they’re really crunchy, and not in a good way. You can also cook steel cut oats in an Instant Pot!
How to Make Steel Cut Oat Cookies
Stir in the cooked oats.
Tips for Perfect Cookies
- I recommend baking these cookies on the top/middle rack, as the bottoms tend to brown quickly, and this ensures that the cookies bake evenly.
- The dough will be very sticky, so using a cookie scoop like this one will make it easier to place the dough on the tray. This also helps ensure evenly sized cookies.
- I recommend flattening the cookies before baking so they are slightly more crispy and less cakey. They won’t spread much on their own.
Variations
- If you want to use regular oatmeal, try my healthier oatmeal cookie recipe or these brown butter oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies. They’re both delicious!
- You can swap out the chocolate chips for raisins or chopped walnuts. Or you can add a few chocolate chips, nuts, and dried fruit. Feel free to get creative!
- Not sure what to do with the leftover steel cut oats? Try making my baked steel cut oatmeal!
Steel Cut Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
These tasty chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are made with steel cut oats for a uniquely chewy texture. Give these delicious cookies a try!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cooked steel cut oats
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Move your oven rack to the middle position, then preheat your oven to 350°F. Use a non-stick baking sheet or line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine together the melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs until combined. Stir in the cooked and cooled oats.
- In a small bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda, cornstarch, and cinnamon.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- The dough will be sticky, so I recommend using a cookie scoop to drop rounded tablespoons of cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheet.
- Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Note: You’ll need about 1/3 cup dry steel cut oats to make 1 cup cooked oats.
This recipe was updated on March 3rd, 2025.
I appreciate the inspiration but some of the proportions were pretty off – preparing my oats as directed left them still fairly uncooked and with wayyyyyy too much leftover liquid. I discarded almost all off the extra water. 1/2 cup of chocolate chips is also a paltry amount, which would result in something more like oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips. Doubled to 1 cup. I was fairly pleased with the results but had the oats been cooked a bit more they would have been better. So for a recipe that is all about using steel cut oats, I think preparing the oats needs a lot more direction/explanation…
PS The bake time was also pretty off – I had to increase to 23-26 mins. Edges just barely beginning to brown at 20 mins, the maximum time in the recipe
Your recipe does not say if you are using 3 minute steel cut oats or a longer cooking type. I’m using the 3 minute oats should I still cook them for 9 minutes at 70% power?
I cooked the Steele oats a long time (much longer than 10 minutes) till the liquid evaporated. Wish that was mentioned. Plus it took 20 minutes to cool enough so the chips didn’t melt while mixing.
Decent flavor but texture tasted more like a granola bar. I’ll use rolled oats next time.
I agree with other posters that the cookies don’t look very appetizing, but they tasted good. I added WAY more spices than called for–I had a packet of chai spices and I used a couple of tablespoons, plus extra cinnamon. This was my first experience with steel-cut oats, I was happy with the results. My batter was a little looser than the pictures in this recipe, but cookies are tasty. I added raisins but should have added more than the recipe suggested. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I made the steel cut oatmeal cookies and they were delicious. I substituted the reg brown sugar and white sugar with Splenda brown sugar and added white diet chocolate chips. Marvelous! Getting ready to make more, now! Lol thank you
Kind of a bland taste which is sad because I doubled the batch. Have not found a way to brown like in the photo.
I tried to sprinkle sugar in top of each cookie to aid in browning but alas it did not work. The color is just not very appetizing.
Cooked for thirty minutes in 350 still never browned do not like this recipe the texture of cookie, etc
Would not brown
Just made these; they came out delicious. Thank you! No eggs were nice so the kids could scrape out the bowl and eat the batter 🙂
Want to try this recipe soon…as I have a big cannister of steel cut oats!
QUESTION: No eggs? Do not see any eggs in recipe.
Thank you!